Monday 2 June 2014

One Fish, Two Fish, Squidge turns 6. Fish!

This week saw Squidge turning six :) He decided he didn't want a party (he doesn't like all the attention that brings) and wanted to go to the Lego Discovery Centre instead. Sprout had been asking to go to the Sealife Centre, so as they're now next door to each other we thought a couple of days away were in order! My complete unawareness of school term times unfortunately saw me booking it not only for a half term but also for a bank holiday (oops!) but ho hum :)

We were early for once so had a wander round before the Sealife Centre opened.


Once inside, Moppet was in awe of the fish and there were lots of 'Wow!'s from her :)


Squidge and Sprout liked all the domes and tunnels they could go in to feel like they were with the fish.





They had trouble spotting this octopus and we remembered the Ted talk we watched with the video of the octopus camouflaging itself.


We were all a bit in awe of this green turtle that had been rescued, he was beautiful.




Turtle feeding time :)


The boys thought this time lapse video of starfish moving about was cool.


Another tunnel :)



Sprout and Moppet stroked a little crab :)



Moppet gave this turtle a big hug...


...and then we went outside for a coffee as it's the first Sealife Centre we've been to that doesn't have a cafe, weird. Anyway, we took advantage of the helterskelter that was on the way to the cafe (Sprout went on too but he was too fast for photo technology haha).



On the way out later Moppet spent lots of time with the statues, she liked their toes :)


In the hotel room we'd booked a cot, not because Moppet sleeps in one but because it was the only way the five of us could have one room *bureaucracy moment*. Once there, she declared the boys her daddies and pretended to cry in the cot like Baby Alexander off Peppa Pig :) So after never having slept in a cot she then decided to spend the entire evening in it :)


We'd hidden some chocolate around the room so they went on a hunt for a while...


...then we went out for Squidge's chosen birthday meal, Pizza Hut!



Sprout found another code to decipher, and we played some noughts and crosses too.




We also did Squidge's birthday 'interview', which gets written in his book with his birthday hand outline :)



Once the kids were asleep in the hotel room later, we set up ready for the morning...


...and he was up bright and not too early for the festivities :)



Hotel breakfast, and Sprout explaining that bacon is the best food ever...


...then another morning where we were actually early for something (wish I could master this the rest of the time!) so we waited outside for a little while.


Gruff took them all round the Lego Discovery Centre as I chose that day to get food poisoning :(
They all built lots of cars and tested them...



...Squidge and Moppet went on the magic flying ride (haze of illness clouds my memory of the name!), and the boys went on the driving ride and Moppet was annoyed that she was too small.


So she went round hugging stuff instead.


Sprout built the word Lego and photographed it for posterity...


...and Squidge and Gruff built a house.


Sprout built a little crocodile, and then a half eaten body that the crocodile had eaten o.O


...then he did the ninja challenge that he had been looking forward to, he got through without knocking the lasers at all!


We hit the shop on the way out, and Moppet made a beeline for the sit in car :)


Back at home there was birthday cake!


Later in the week they all played with the things their grandparents brought them back from Majorca...




...and Sprout asked me to find some apps about sea creatures, so we found a few and played on them together...




...then he drifted back to Triple Lab.


Meanwhile Squidge and Moppet were having a minifig fest.


While watching Pewdiepie videos Sprout heard about catacombs, so we chatted about those for a bit and looked at the photos of the ones Gruff and I visited on the outskirts of Paris when we were on honeymoon. I said there are some in the UK too if he fancied going down one time but he thought it would be a bit too spooky. 
On Nerd Cubed videos a while ago Sprout came across the upcoming Everquest Landmark, and seeing as our beta key request got nowhere and the closed beta is now out, we paid for a key. Unfortunately it seems that Sprout's computer isn't powerful enough to run it (I should have checked!) and Gruff's is too out of date, so we need to return to investigating some PC upgrade options so that we can continue playing the things he's interested in.


Following on with the theme of molecular gastronomy from last week, I found a little Japanese kit to make your own jelly sweets, and I noticed that the little caviar ones use the spherification process. I thought we might have more success with this to start off with than the recipes we tried, so we had a go.


Squidge mixed the 'rice'...


...Sprout shaped the 'nori'...


...and while the 'tamago' and 'smoked salmon' set, Squidge used spherification to make the 'caviar' :)


All assembled, just a bit of 'soy sauce' added as a finishing touch!


We had a day with school-going friends around as they were off for half term, so there was lots of gaming, trampolining, squealing rocket balloons, water pistols, mud and bubbles :)


Oh and chef Squidge got himself two sous chef friends and they all made this yummy trifle together :)



Once the younger two were asleep Sprout and I had a film night with Planet of the Apes that he's been wanting to see. When we watch films he talks all the way through about what he's noticing and thinking about the plot, I love hearing the things he notices that I don't, and the different ways he sees things from the way I do, it's very cool. 
After the film finished he got a skype call from one of his new Terraria friends who's in New York, so they coincide playing when it's afternoon/evening for them and night for us, it suits Sprout's body clock nicely. It was nice to hear the happy chat through the wall :)


The boys' friends were round again and there was lots of gaming including Dragon Defenders and Lego Marvel Superheroes. 


Meanwhile Moppet found her tub of baubles and cake pop moulds again, plus spent lots of time playing in the sink and also speeding down the outside path on her little ride on car, feet in the air and laughing like a loon :)


Sprout had a cold and felt like spending more time right there with us than he normally does, so he played a lot of Skylanders and did a bit of trampolining too.


He also spent ages chatting to us telling us what he thought the implications of the end of the Planet of the Apes film were :)


While Moppet was snuggled up watching more Peppa Pig, the boys discovered a new programme on Netflix called Wild Kratts, and were completely rapt for ages! It reminded me of Octonauts but for older kids.


There was an Emergency Services fun day at the local park which we'd all planned to go to, but Sprout still didn't feel well so he stayed at home with Gruff and had a Skylanders Swap Force marathon while I took Squidge and Moppet along. The highlight for her was sitting on the police motorbike...


...they both thought the 'big man balloon' was cool...


...they both loved this ride but Moppet in particular, squealing with delight every time it went over a little hill...


...a ride on the train...


...and the piece de resistance, the aeroplane ride (I've just realised the photo looks like Moppet is crying but she was actually laughing her head off the whole time!).


What we spent most time doing was queuing for the ice cream van though, so we spent some time tipping each other upside down (well, in fairness just me tipping them lol), and playing 'I just can't see where Moppet's gone..." which she finds hilarious.


We headed him after an ice cream break and they played with a friend for a while at home, and watched A Bug's Life and a bit of Pewdiepie while Moppet slept.


There was a bit of Max and Ruby watching, and some Caillou, and then some lemon eating by Moppet and Gruff (they must have some weird gene or something, I totally can't eat lemons)


Lastly this week, we tried out Sprout's putt putt boat that his grandma and grandpa brought him back from Majorca. It runs on a tiny little olive oil lamp inside it, and was much more effective than we expected!






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